Spent the last two days pottering about Buenos Aires and recovering from the Antarctica trip. It`s a bit of a contrast of temperatures, 32 degrees here at the moment, and I have had to shed several layers. It is nice to be back in dry land, at least the bed has stopped appearing to move now. Spent some time in the nature reserve by the River and then walked the parks around Palmero. Fly back to Brazil this afternoon so better start practising my Portuguese again. My vocabulary is now up to four words!

Awoke at 5am to find us already well down the Beagle Channel. The pilot had come on board at 4am and we had an incredibly smooth return to Ushuaia, 18 days since the departure. We all had to leave the ship by 9 as it was due to leave for another three week cruise that evening. It was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend the trip to anyone.

Down at the Fin del Mundo or the end of the world. Staying in Ushuaia capital of Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in the World. The town certainly feels remote, surrounded by mountains. The locals seem to spend their days circling the town in their cars. It`s the thing to do. Either that or parking fees are horrendous and they have to keep moving. Today we got the bus out to the National park, stunning scenery and lots of bird life. A very close encounter with a large woodpecker, which I`m still not sure wasn`t a puppet. Tomorrow we set sail for Antarctica.

Spent today exploring the Ciudad de la Santissima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Senora la Virgen Maria de los Buenos Aires, Thank goodness they shortened the name. The change of language is a bit of a pain. I keep saying obligado when I mean gracias. It`s been a beautiful sunny day today, despite this website saying it is raining. The hotel is fantastic, it`s an old Tango house. It`s so posh the toilet flushes with hot water.

So new day new country. Drove down to Port Alegre yesterday and returned the hire car. It was quite a shock coming down from the alpine atmosphere in the hills to the muggy heat of the port city. Sat by the river and watched the joggers pounding the sidewalk, the one legged homeless man having a shower and the beggars going through the rubbish bins looking for tin cans to recycle. From Port Alegre it was a choice of 18 hours in a bus, or 90 minutes in a plane to get to Buenos Aires, so I went for the plane. Six hours on a bus was more than enough. Had a fantastic view off the city, bathed in sunshine as we flew in. Wandered around this afternoon. Saw the flag being lowered outside the Casa Rosada as well as a demo passing by. Not sure what it was for but it involved a lot of moterbikes. There was a tango going on in the street. They were looking for volunteers but I didn`t offer.